


The Turtle, the Enchanted Woods, and the Unicorn

by Ikira



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Magic, Mikey stop touching the fairies they might bite, Not an AU though, So much glitter that Bowie would weep, Unicorns, enchanted forests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2635595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikira/pseuds/Ikira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow the turtles find themselves magically transported to a strange and beautiful forest, filled with all sorts of magical creatures. They are less than impressed, except for Mikey who just wants to take a Unicorn home as a pet. Leo just wants to go home. Donnie wants to try SCIENCE. And Raph just wants to stop snorting pixie dust up his nose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Turtle, the Enchanted Woods, and the Unicorn

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even remember who I was talking to about this fic, but I'm pretty sure y'all thought I was joking. Nope >:)

Leonardo whistled lowly to himself as he stared up at the surrounding foliage in wonder. “Man, I have no idea how that funky glowing ball got us here, but I’ve got to admit I’m impressed.” He reached up a curious hand to bat at a low-hanging branch thick with broad flat emerald leaves. A fine mist of sparkling dew was shaken off and fell about his head and shoulders, making them glisten in the daylight that peeked through the treetops. “This place is beautiful.”

“Eh, it’s too sparkly,” Raph complained from behind him. “I’m not a big fan of getting a lungful of glitter every time I breathe.” To punctuate his point, he waved his hand in front of his face, scattering a cloud of said glitter into the air. Leo had to admit that Raph’s observation wasn’t exactly far off. The air _was_ thick with what looked like the after-effects of a craft table that had exploded.

“Actually, Raph, that’s not glitter, it’s pollen,” Donnie immediately spoke up as he ducked under the low branch Leo had brushed earlier. He was careful to not get any of the water droplets on the belt of pouches that he’d strapped across his chest earlier that afternoon. When asked about what was in them, he’d merely said ‘science’ and left it at that. None of them had dared ask again.

“Pollen?” Raph glanced over at Donnie, one eye ridge raised. “How can you tell?”

“Given the relative temperature and humidity indicating that it is in fact spring here and the ubiquitous nature of the ‘glitter’ in the air, it must be pollen from these arboreal life forms,” Donnie explained happily, one finger raised as he lectured. But when his explanation was met with three blank looks, the happy expression morphed into one of annoyance and his shoulders dropped. “It’s spring, which is when pollen happens, and the sparkly stuff is all around the trees, so it’s probably coming from the trees,” he simplified.

Three ‘Oooooohs’ answered him. He merely threw up his hands in frustration and continued to trudge after them as they moved deeper into the forest.

“Hey guys, come check this out!” Mikey suddenly shouted from his place at the head of the group. Leonardo had long ago given up on keeping him close, and decided to let him go ahead to scout. Considering every five minutes Mikey stopped to be distracted by some glowing mushroom or dainty fairy flitting by, they managed to keep up with him just fine. The others had long since gotten used to the strange magical nature of the forest, and such sights no longer interested them. They’d heard this particular line several times since appearing in this strange forest, but this was the first time Mikey had sounded _this_ excited. The other three brothers glanced at each other, intrigued, before rushing forward as one.

They joined Mikey in peering through a clump of dense bushes into a clearing just beyond. What they saw left them all gasping in wonder as they spotted the creatures standing before them. Unicorns. Actual living, breathing Unicorns.

The dappled light that passed through the arching tree branches painted the silvery coats of the herd of Unicorns in various shades of green and yellow. The majestic creatures were grazing elegantly on the berry bushes and clumps of ferns that were growing into the clearing, completely unaware of the onlookers. There must have been eight or nine of the beautiful beasts, each with coats of pure white or silver that faded to stormy grey on their fetlocks and beards. Their horns looked to be made of crystal and their hooves of solid gold. Each moved as gracefully as a swan and shone with an inner light.

“Oh wow,” Leonardo breathed. Around him, his brothers echoed his sentiments.

There was a pause as each brother drank in the sight of the Unicorns. Then suddenly Mikey spoke up.

“I want one,” he announced. The others slowly turned incredulous gazes on him, but he was adamant. “Dude, they give you like +5 to attack in Mutants and Mazes if you have one as a mount. That’s even _better_ than my +1 Ring of Awesome! I want one!”

Leo was about to tell him off when Donnie made a thoughtful noise next to him. “They _could_ be very valuable allies, considering we’re completely lost at this point, and riding would certainly get us out of here faster than walking,” he agreed. “ _But_ ,” he immediately added, cutting off Mikey’s cheer of triumph, “that’s only of one of us can tame one. And not just _anyone_ can tame a Unicorn, you know. You have to have, uh, certain...qualities.”

“You mean be a virgin?” Raph asked flatly. “Because I’m pretty sure we’ve all got that covered. Unless there’s something you’d like to tell us about what you and April get up to during those ‘study sessions’ of yours in your lab.”

Leonardo reached out and punched Raph in the shoulder even as Donnie started squawking in indignation, stuttering out that he had no idea what Raph was talking about. Raph didn’t even have the decency to look sorry. It didn’t help that Mikey was laughing so hard tears were starting to gather in his eyes. Leo was just about to tell them all off when Mikey, laughing too hard to keep his balance, fell out of the bushes and into the clearing.

Immediately all of the Unicorns were on alert. Their proud heads were held high as they eyed the sudden intruder, snorting. The turtles all instantly froze, eyes wide with dread as Mikey lay helpless before the Unicorns, his head uncomfortably close to the nearest one’s sharp-looking hooves. Mikey, for his part, was smart enough to not move as the Unicorn slowly approached, bending its long neck to sniff at Mikey’s face.

“Oh man, Mikey,” Leo whispered in fear, torn between jumping to his youngest brother’s aid and staying still to avoid startling the Unicorn. He was so tense with indecision that when Raph laid a hand on his shoulder he nearly jumped out of his shell.

“It’s okay,” Raph reassured him, though the waver in his voice betrayed how shaken up he was as well. “If anyone can tame a Unicorn, it’s Mikey. Or maybe you. You two are like the ultimate virgins.”

Leo turned and glared. “Not. Helping,” he grit out.

Raph could only shrug, giving his elder brother a little smirk before they both turned their attention back to Mikey and the Unicorn. The Unicorn was still sniffing cautiously at the orange-clad turtle, who was starting to giggle as the Unicorn’s beard tickled against his plastron.

Abruptly the Unicorn jerked its head back. It gave a massive snort and then turned away from Mikey, returning to the other Unicorns. They all seemed to collectively dismiss Mikey from their minds, returning to their grazing. On the one hand, it was a relief that the Unicorn wasn’t going to attack Mikey. On the other hand, they couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed that the Unicorns had found him unworthy. The brothers waited until the Unicorns seemed fully invested in eating before finally climbing out of the bushes and over to Mikey’s side

“Sorry, Mikey,” Leo told the youngest, resting a consoling hand on his shoulder. “Better luck next time.”

“Yeah,” Mikey agreed, eyes down and shoulders slumped. “It would have been pretty cool to have one as a pet, though.” He was the picture of disappointment. Leo, Donnie, and Raph glanced at each other, each begging the other to do something. None of them could handle it when Mikey looked like a kicked puppy. In desperation, Donnie spoke.

“Maybe in the next clearing we’ll find Dragons or something. Something even cooler! Ow!” He winced as Leo dug an elbow into his side, glaring. His message was clear. _Let’s **not** encourage Mikey to bring home a dragon, okay?_

“Yeah, but I really wanted a Unicorn,” Mikey whined, “They’re +5 to attack, dude!” He looked so forlorn that Leo knew there was only one thing to do. His eyes narrowed in determination, he slowly rose to his feet. He had a duty, as Mikey’s big brother, to cheer him up, and there was only one way to do that.

“Uh oh,” Raph spoke, spotting the look in Leo’s eyes and knowing from experience that he was about to do something stupid. “Leo, what are you doing?” he asked his brother cautiously, reaching out slowly, ready to grab Leo if he moved suddenly. But it didn’t matter because Leo was still too quick. He darted out of the way of Raph’s reaching grip and turned to face the Unicorns.

“What’s it look like, Raph? I’m going to go get us a Unicorn.” With that determined statement, Leonardo strode off across the clearing, headed with purpose towards the closest Unicorn, ignoring Raph and Donnie trying to call him back. The Unicorn raised its head from the ferns it had been eating with interest as he approached, but didn’t run. Around it, the other Unicorns perked up slightly in curiosity.

Thankfully Leo was smart enough to slow down as he reached the Unicorn. Instead of walking right up to it he began his approach slowly, raising one hand in front of himself in offering. When he came close enough he stopped, allowing the Unicorn to close the final distance. It did tenderly, reaching out its nose to sniff at Leo’s fingers, coming close enough that Leo could feel the warmth coming off of its skin. Then, just as suddenly as the first Unicorn had dismissed Mikey, this one snorted and turned away, returning to its meal.

On the other side of the clearing, Raph and Donnie cracked up at Leo’s offended expression. “Guess you’re not quite pure enough after all!” Raph cried out. “What happened, you fall behind on your needlepoint? Maybe it’s because you’re not wearing your dress today!” Even Mikey started cracking up, to Leo’s embarrassment. He glowered at all of them, a growl growing in his throat as they continued to laugh and tease. Then Raph finished with one last comment. “Maybe you should be fighting with a dainty fan like April does! That might convince it!”

That was the final straw. Although he knew Raph didn’t mean it, and that he fully respected April as a kunoichi and a fighter, the insult to her was too much. With a roar, Leo launched himself across the clearing and tackled Raph, sending them end over end into the forest. Mikey and Donnie watched them go with mildly amused expressions, the occasional giggle still sneaking out.

While Raph and Leo were distracted with their squabble, Mikey turned and looked to Donnie. “Do you want to try?” he suggested, gesturing towards the Unicorns. “What can it hurt, right?”

Donnie had to admit that so far the Unicorns had been incredibly tolerant of their presence and that if they hadn’t attacked yet, they probably wouldn’t. The creatures didn’t even seem fazed by the brawl that was going on less than twenty feet from them. It was probably safe to at least _try_. With that in mind, Donnie handed over his staff to Mikey for safe keeping. After all, perhaps the Unicorns were drawn more to peacefulness than purity. Still, he couldn’t help but gulp loudly as he started his own trek across the clearing toward the Unicorns.

He ignored the ones that had dismissed Mikey and Leo, figuring that they would give him similar reactions. Instead he approached one of the smaller Unicorns that was off on its own a bit, nibbling on some raspberries. He assumed based on its stature and shape that this one might be female. He followed Leo’s method of approaching slowly with one hand extended, but stopped much further away from the Unicorn than Leo had. He figured if the Unicorn didn’t even bother to approach, that would be all the answer he needed.

But it did approach. By now the other Unicorns didn’t bother to watch, bored with it all, but this one had an air of curiosity about it. It came up to him, and sniffed at his hand, but then continued its inspection further to his shoulders, head, and shell. For a moment, Donnie actually thought that maybe _he_ would be the one to succeed where his brothers had failed.

But then the Unicorn reached his belt of pouches that he’d forgotten to remove. It took one sniff of them, jerked back, and then moved away. Disappointment sagged Donnie’s shoulders, but he quickly accepted the Unicorn’s judgement and moved back to where Mikey was sitting and picking raspberries off of one of the bushes. “Ah well. Worth a shot,” he said, accepting a handful of fresh berries from his brother. He popped one in his mouth and was instantly assaulted with the sweet juice. No wonder the Unicorns hadn’t bothered to run off when they’d arrived. He’d stick around for berries this tasty too.

“It’s okay, bro. I’m not exactly sure how we’d ride one anyways,” Mikey said sympathetically. “I’m pretty sure our shells would make it uncomfortable for both of us.”

“True,” Donnie accepted with a tilt to his head. The two brothers lapsed into silence for a minute, sitting and eating sweet raspberries and watching the Unicorns with Raph and Leo’s fight as background noise.

All of the sudden, Leo and Raph tumbled back into the clearing, Raph landing hard and pinning Leo to the ground. “Ha!” he crowed, a cocky grin on his face. “You give up yet?”

But Leo wasn’t quite done. “Not yet,” he snarled, and then he tucked up his legs, bracing his feet against Raph’s plastron, and kicked. In his anger, he kicked a bit harder than he’d meant to. Raph went soaring through the clearing to land with an ‘oomf’ right in the middle of the Unicorn herd. The Unicorns scattered in shock.

“Ow,” Raph muttered as he slowly sat up, rubbing his head where it had impacted with the ground. “Geez, Leo. What crawled up your shell and died? I can’t believe – ” He was cut off as he looked up at the creature hovering over him. When the Unicorns had scattered, they’d revealed the one that had been hiding in the middle of their group, which was now inspecting Raphael with interest.

It was the awkwardest-looking thing any of them had ever seen, and they’d all seen April’s middle school ID badge. Although it was similar to the others, its horn was crooked, its hair was frizzy, and it was wall-eyed. It walked with an unsteady gait as it sniffed around Raph’s head, its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. Its muzzle was stained red from raspberry-tinted drool. Compared to the other Unicorns, it was almost painful to look at. This one was _definitely_ not the Unicorn you wanted as a mount.

Which was why, naturally, it neighed happily at Raph and licked a long stripe up his face before nuzzling at him enthusiastically. The brothers could practically _hear_ the other Unicorns rolling their eyes as the dorky-looking Unicorn claimed Raph as its owner.

There was a pause as what was happening sunk into various minds. Then, almost as one, Raph shouted “Oh _shell_ no,” just as his brothers burst out laughing. Raph angrily pushed himself to his feet and stormed across the clearing towards his brothers, ready to pummel them, but he was distracted when the dorky Unicorn instantly trotted up alongside him. “Oh no. You stay the shell away from me. Go on. Shoo,” he tried to wave the Unicorn off. But it just snorted heavily and then licked him again, leaving more slobber running down his face. Raph groaned. “Cut that out!”

His brothers laughed even harder. “Of _course_ it’s you!” Donnie managed to choke out. The others were laughing too hard to speak.

“Yeah, yeah, guys. Laugh it up,” Raph grumbled in impotent rage, crossing his arms over his plastron. The Unicorn licked him again, leaving a long trail of drool dripping down his face.

+++

It took nearly fifteen minutes for everyone to calm down enough that they didn’t immediately start laughing again whenever they looked in Raph’s direction. They eventually decided that they’d lingered with the Unicorns long enough, and that it was time to continue their search for a way home. Gathering their things they started off - and immediately the dorky Unicorn followed.

“No!” Raph shouted, pushing at the Unicorn’s nose. “Go away! Go back to the other Unicorns!” The Unicorn didn’t budge, happily leaning back against Raph’s force and nuzzling his hand. When Raph gave up with a frustrated groan, it licked him again. “Okay. You have _got_ to stop doing that,” he told it, wiping the drool from his face.

“I’m pretty sure you’re stuck with him,” Mikey cheerfully pointed out, dancing around Raph and poking at his cheeks. “So that means he needs a name. Can I name him? Huh? Huh? Can I?” Instantly the puppy dog eyes came out.

But Raph was too fed up to be convinced by Mikey’s most potent weapon. “No. If we name it, we have to keep it, and I refuse.”

“Kind of looks like a losing battle,” Leo grinned from his position at the front of the line. It was totally worth the black eye Raph had given him to see his angriest brother being trailed by the dorky Unicorn. Even though they were lost in some magical world far from home, he was cherishing this moment for the rest of his _life._

Raph growled, but didn’t bother to answer. Instead they kept moving forward, searching for a way out.

They were following the sun, figuring that was as good a direction to head as any other, but as they walked they noticed that the forest was getting thicker around them as they moved. They often had to stop to cut away at the overgrown foliage before going any further. Despite this, and despite the fact that the Unicorn was much bigger than any of them, it still managed to keep up, trotting happily along at Raph’s side. He was starting to think he’d have to attack the thing to get rid of it.

He was beginning to consider doing just that when Leo hacked away at a curtain of vines, which fell to the ground to reveal a large clearing. In the center was an ancient stone altar with a shining green orb resting atop. The air around them was thick with power.

“Whoa,” Leo gasped in wonder, “What is this place?” Not knowing what else to do, they all approached cautiously, ringing the altar and staring at the orb in awe. The dorky Unicorn merely bowed its head, refusing to step closer. There was a moment’s pause as they all basked in the power soaking the air around them.

Then Mikey broke the silence. “So now what?”

The turtles all looked at each other, completely lost. “I have no idea,” Leo admitted.

“Hmmm, based on this inscription I can barely make out,” Donnie started speaking, his eyes squinting at the runes surrounding the base of the altar, his face practically pressed to the stone as he tried to read what it said, “this place is called The Heart of the Forest. I think this is the source of this forest’s magical energies!”

“It’s a fancy glowing rock, isn’t that what brought us here in the first place?” Raph pointed out, eager for this to all be over so he could get rid of his admirer. “Yay, we found something pretty, go us. Can we go now?”

“Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast!” a new voice broke out across the clearing. There was a puff of smoke, and a dark hooded figure appeared in one of the trees ringing the clearing. Something about him seemed familiar, but the turtles couldn’t quite see him clearly through the branches. “For though thou hast discovered the hidden glen of the Heart of the Forest, thine Quest is not yet complete! For thou now must defend the sacred power from the villain most foul! The Evil Black Knight!” the figure announced, gesturing one arm towards the opposite side of the clearing. As he spoke, a dark shape took form in the shadows, and glowing red eyes appeared in the gloom. “Ha ha ha! Have at thee, adventurers!” Then, just as suddenly as he’d appeared, the figure vanished in another puff of smoke, his pompous laughter continuing to echo through the clearing.

Just then, the dark shape stepped into the clearing. It was a hulking figure in pitch black armour astride a huge dark war horse. Beneath the helmet the red eyes glowed like embers, matched in the wild gaze of the Knight’s mount. The stallion snorted hot steam, pawing at the ground in agitation. Slowly and menacingly, the Black Knight drew his massive sword that was easily taller than any of the turtles except perhaps Donnie. His eyes locked on Leo.

“Uh oh,” Mikey squeaked.

That was all the time they had to react. The Black Knight kicked his heels into his stallion’s sides, and it started charging forward far faster than anything that size had any right to. The brothers were forced to scatter as the great beast plowed through their midst. But this was a mistake. They had left the glowing sphere completely unprotected. The Black Knight jerked his stallion to a stop next to the altar and reached out to steal its treasure completely unopposed.

Rather, _almost_ completely unopposed. For Donnie had acted far faster than any of them. Reaching into one of his pouches, he pulled out a handful of darts and threw them with precision towards the Black Knight. Each dart landed in a gap in the Knight’s armour along his hand and arm, causing him to cry out in pain and jerk back. Raphael, never one to let an opportunity like this go to waste, immediately sprung into action. He launched himself in a full body tackle at the Black Knight, intending to knock him off of his mount.

However, instead of knocking the Black Knight down, Raph merely collided painfully with his well-armoured shoulder. With a moan of pain, Raph bounced back off and fell to the ground, stunned. Chuckling darkly, the Black Knight forced his stallion into a rear, intending it to crush Raph under its hooves. Raph groaned and rubbed at his head, completely oblivious to the danger that was coming down upon him.

“Booyakasha!” Mikey screamed as he swung out of a tree on his kusarigama chain. He swooped in and snagged Raph out of the way just as the war horse’s hooves came crashing down where he head had been. The Black Knight let out a cry of rage at his prey escaping, but did not let it distract him for long. He drew his sword and waited as Mikey’s swing completed its arc, and he started to swing back the other way. Mikey looked down as they reached the top of the swing and were momentarily suspended in the air to see the Black Knight waiting for them. He let out a high-pitched scream and clung tighter to Raph’s groaning body. “Guys! Help!”

“Hang on, Mikey!” Leo shouted even as he launched himself at the Black Knight. But instead of trying to attack the man in armour as Raph had done, he swung his sword at the horse he rode. The Black Knight saw him coming, and was able to stop Leo’s blade from connecting with his mount, but it meant he was distracted long enough for Mikey to unhook his chain and land near the edge of the clearing. As Leo and the Black Knight began to engage in a sword battle, Mikey carefully lowered Raph to the ground, eyeing him for obvious wounds. Donnie rushed to their side mere seconds later, already drawing bandages from yet another of his pouches.

“How does he look?” Donnie asked, even as he started his own inspection.

“I think he hit his head,” Mikey admitted, pointing to a large bump that was already growing on the back of Raph’s skull. “And I think he got scratched by some of the spikes on the bad guy’s armour.”

Donnie hummed in agreement, eyeing the wounds that Mikey had pointed out. Beneath them, resting against a tree, Raph groaned, his eyes fluttering weakly. “He probably has a concussion. Not much we can do about that right now. Either way, I think he’s safe enough for now right here. That Black Knight is our biggest concern,” Donnie decided, even as he quickly and proficiently wrapped the worst of Raph’s scrapes.

“So what do we do?” Mikey asked, glancing over at the battle. Leo was barely holding his own, and it was pretty clear the Black Knight was just toying with him at that point. The biggest problem was that upon his horse, the Black Knight was far too high up for Leo to get a decent hit.

“I need you to buy me some time,” Donnie instructed quickly. “I have a plan, but it’s going to take me some time to mix all the ingredients. Can you distract him for a minute?”

Mikey gave Don a flat look. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to? Dude, I’ll distract him for a _year_. I’ll distract him for so long, he’ll forget you even _exist_. I’ll distract him for so long that he’ll get old and grey and fall off his horse on his own. I’ll distract him for so long – ”

“I _get_ it, Mikey!” Donnie shouted, eyes blazing. “You’re supposed to be distracting _him_ , not me! Just go do it!”

Giving his brother a cheeky thumbs up, Mikey immediately sprung into action. He dashed across the clearing, backflipped over Leo’s head and landed on the altar in the middle of the clearing. Then, with a wide grin, he shouted, “Hey ugly! Is that your _mom’s_ armour?” He turned around so that his shell was facing their opponent and started smacking his own behind. “Bet you can’t hit me, you oversized tin can!”

The Black Knight let out a roar and abandoned his skirmish with Leo, who looked all too relieved to have a break. Once again the Knight charged, his sword swinging where Michelangelo had been standing, but the youngest turtle simply hopped over the passing blade. “Whoops, too slow!” he taunted. The Knight swung again, and this time Mikey ducked. “Another swing and a miss!” A third strike Mikey simply jumped backwards out of the way. “Three strikes, you’re out!”

As if waiting for that exact cue, Donnie made his move. While Mikey had been keeping the Black Knight busy, he had been mixing several powders and substances in the last of his pouches. His work now complete, he lobbed the mixture in one of the pouches at the Black Knight’s head. “Fire in the hole!” he shouted, throwing himself over Raphael with his shell facing out. Leo and Mikey’s eyes bugged as they recognized that Donnie-style big booms were about to happen and quickly followed suit, ducking for cover.

The pouch connected with the Black Knight’s shoulder. Instantly it exploded into a _huge_ ball of fire. The turtles all ducked down against the heat as it seared outwards, the brightness and loudness of the explosion leaving them blind and deaf for a moment. When the fire receded, the turtles slowly sat up, their ears still ringing.

“Holy shell, Donnie,” Raph muttered from beneath his brother, the explosion enough to jolt him awake. “What the _shell_ was _that?!_ ”

“I’ve been working on some incendiary materials for our fight against the Kraang,” Donnie explained dazedly. The tip of his bo was smouldering slightly. “They may be a bit more powerful than I calculated.”

“You _think_?” Raph shouted.

He would have gone on, but at that moment, the ash of the explosion cleared. To their horror, the Black Knight was still sitting astride his war horse, looking completely unscathed. For a second it seemed like something was shimmering around him in the air, like a giant soap bubble, but it vanished almost as quickly.

“Aw, sewer apples!” Donnie moaned. “He’s got some sort of force field!”

“That protects him from _bombs_?!” Raph demanded incredulously.

“Apparently! Aw, man, he’s too strong! I need to think of something else.” Donnie rose to his feet, mind already working on overdrive.

“Donnie! Raph!” Leo called out from where he had hidden from the explosion on the opposite side of the clearing. He was making his way towards the altar that Mikey had hidden behind. “Are you guys okay?” He was stopped in his tracks by the Black Knight, who had marched into his path.

“Yes, we’re fine!” Donnie answered before turning back to Raph. “Stay here. You’re concussed, and my explosion probably didn’t help. Sorry about that. I’m going to go help Leo.”

“Wait, Donnie!” Raph shouted, reaching out towards his brother, but Donnie was already racing across the clearing, whirling his bo staff and screaming. He brought his staff down on the Knight’s shoulder with a meaty thwack, but the armour meant that it did little more than numb Donnie’s arms. Thankfully, Mikey leapt up from behind the altar, swinging his nunchucks, and distracted the Black Knight before he could retaliate.

Sitting on the far end of the clearing and watching his three brothers trying their best to stop the Black Knight, Raph felt less than useless. “Aw, man, he _is_ too strong. How the heck are we supposed to beat this guy?” he muttered to himself. Never one to take a fight like this lying down, he began struggling to his feet, using the tree behind him as support. It was way harder than he had expected. His head kept spinning and his arms felt like jelly. Stupid concussion. Stupid explosion. Grunting with effort, he managed to get himself upright, but he was left panting and leaning against the tree. There was no way he was going to make it across the clearing to his brothers.

Just then, a wet and warm tongue licked a raspberry-stained stripe up his face. “Eaugh!” he cried out in disgust, jerking his head to look over his shoulder at his attacker. The dorky Unicorn looked back with its wall-eyed stare, drooling. “Oh yeah. I nearly forgot about you,” he groaned.

At that moment, he heard a cry of pain. He whirled back around just in time to see the Black Knight strike a decisive blow against Leo, knocking one of his katana free. The sword arced end over end through the air to land blade first sunk into the ground, halfway between Raph and his brothers. Taking advantage of Leo’s distraction, the Black Knight kicked out, hitting Leo in the plastron and sending him flying into the altar hard enough that something cracked.

“ _Leo!_ ” the brothers screamed as one. Howling in rage, Donnie and Mikey renewed their attacks on the Black Knight, but they were still unsuccessful. It seemed hopeless. Raph could only watch helplessly, completely at a loss.

But then, suddenly, he remembered something Mikey had said earlier. “Unicorns give +5 to attack if you use them as a mount,” Raph recalled quietly to himself, his expression slowly changing from despair to excitement. He looked back at the dorky Unicorn, a plan forming in his head. “What do you say, buddy? You up for kicking a little bad guy butt?”

The dorky Unicorn stared blankly for a second. Then it blew a raspberry.

Raph smirked. “I’m taking that as a yes.” He tucked away his sai, knowing they wouldn’t have the reach he needed, and it would just slow him down. Reaching out, he grabbed the Unicorn’s frizzy mane and gripped it tight. Then with a grunt of effort, he heaved himself up onto the Unicorn’s back. To his pleasant surprise, the kink in its back somehow managed to line up perfectly with his shell, leaving him sitting comfortably and stably. Beneath him the Unicorn started stomping at the ground, snorting out great breaths. Grinning, he settled, tightening his grip on the Unicorn’s mane. “Aw yeah. Let’s do this.”

He kicked the Unicorn’s sides. It immediately leapt forward, charging into the clearing. As they raced across the open space, Raph leaned down to one side, holding out his open hand for Leo’s dropped katana. The second he felt the worn hilt slap into his hand he jerked upwards, pulling it loose from the dirt. The Unicorn never broke stride, continuing to charge forward with its crooked horn pointed straight at the war horse. The Black Knight had started to whirl his mount around as he heard the thunder of approaching hooves, but he was too slow to escape the oncoming attack.

“ _For my brothers_!” Raph screamed at the top of his lungs just as he and the Unicorn struck. His borrowed blade sunk into the minute gap between the Black Knight’s helmet and chest guard at the same time the Unicorn’s horn pierced the war horse’s side. There was a dark scream of rage, a moment where the Black Knight’s red eyes burned even brighter. And then suddenly both he and his horse vanished into a puff of black smoke that blew away on the breeze.

“Aww yeah,” Raph grinned from atop his new mount, as his brothers stared up at him in shock. “+5 to attack, baby.”

“Well done, adventurers!” a familiar voice suddenly broke out through the clearing. A blue mist started gathering over the altar before it suddenly poofed away, revealing a very familiar sparrow wizard. “You have succeeded in thine Quest. The Enchanted Forest is once more safe thanks to you!”

“Malachi!” Leo shouted in sudden understanding. “Aw, we should have known this was your doing.” The other turtles joined in with his groaning.

“You mean none of this is real? Again? Awww, man,” Mikey slumped over dejectedly. Donnie reached over and gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

“Wait, you mean you guys didn’t know?” Malachi asked, instantly dropping his usual manner of speaking as he looked at them all in concern. “Didn’t you get my letter?”

“What letter?” Leo asked, approaching with a menacing glint in his eye, his remaining katana blade still drawn. Malachi must have noticed, because he immediately started talking. And quickly.

“I sent you guys a letter with my game sphere that said that if you guys were interested I’d set up another campaign and I’d figured out how to make it even better because there’d be like this whole area that you could explore and all you had to do was break open the game sphere when you had time because I know you guys are busy a lot and I sensed the game sphere getting broken so I thought that meant you guys were ready so I set up the Quest and here we are!” Malachi finished all in one breath, leaving him panting as he stared at Leo with wide eyes. “Didn’t you guys get it?”

“Oooooh,” Mikey suddenly spoke up. “Now that you mention it, I did see something with the glowy ball when I found it.”

Leo’s ire now had a new target. “And you didn’t mention this before?”

Mikey at least had the grace to look sheepish. “I thought it was just garbage! It looked too fancy to be for us! Besides, Raph’s the one that broke the thing!” he shouted, quickly pointing at his older brother to shift the blame.

Astride his Unicorn, Raph was too smug about his win to care. “Donnie tripped me. Besides, you shouldn’t have brought strange glowing balls home anyways!”

“He has a point,” Donnie added, grateful that he wasn’t going to soon be the center of attention. Grumbling, Mikey sat heavily on the ground and pouted.

Unable to do anything about it now, Leo could only sigh in frustration before sheathing his katana. “Well, what’s done is done, I suppose.”

Malachi approached awkwardly, wringing his hands together. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I really thought you guys would like this campaign.”

Leo looked at each of his brothers in turn. “To be honest,” he slowly said as he met each one’s eyes, “we really _did_ enjoy it. That was actually really fun. And the world you made is incredible!”

“Yeah. The detail, the structure, the flora and fauna? Beautiful!” Donnie added.

“And that bad guy was so cool! Did you see his armour?”

“Yeah. It was pretty cool,” Raph finally admitted. He dismounted, albeit rather ungracefully, and leaned against his Unicorn’s side, patting it on the neck. “Some of it cooler than others.”

Malachi instantly perked up. “So you’d want to do this again?”

The brothers shrugged in consensus. “Sure,” Leo told him, slowly smiling. Then, quick as a flash, his smile switched to an annoyed frown. “Just, next time, can you just come and _ask_ us to play? No more leaving game spheres around for Mikey to find.”

“Consider it done, my friend,” Malachi agreed. “Now let us return thou to thine home.” He waved his arms into the air and a familiar mist began to spread throughout the clearing.

The rest of the brothers simply waited for the illusionary world to disappear into the mist, but Raph had someone to say goodbye to. Leaning close enough to the Unicorn’s ear so that his brothers couldn’t hear him to tease, he whispered, “Bye, Spike the Second. I hope I see you again next time.”

Spike the Second gave Raph a familiar wall-eyed stare before licking his face one more time. Then the mist thickened for a moment before finally dissipating. When it was gone, the enchanted forest and the Unicorn were gone with it. Instead, they were back in the sewers exactly where they’d left, on their way to visit April at Mr. Murakami’s for dinner. Judging by the light coming from the sewer grate above them, hardly any time had passed at all.

“Until next time, adventurers!” Malachi announced, breaking the turtles out of their stupor as they readjusted to their surroundings. They waved as he turned with a whirl of his ratty cloak and disappeared into the sewers, off to wherever he called home. Once he was gone, they faced each other again.

“Man, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Mikey complained, starting off towards their destination. “Fighting magical bad guys really makes me hungry.”

“Me too,” Leo agreed, trailing after him with Donnie at his side.

“Yeah, we shouldn’t keep April waiting.”

“Pizza Gyoza, here we come!” Mikey shouted. “Maybe there’ll be ice cream for dessert!”

“Actually,” Raph spoke up quietly from the back of the group, a small smile on his face, “I’m kind of craving raspberries.”

The other two didn’t hear him, but Leo shot him a knowing look. Thankfully he didn’t comment. “Maybe we can get raspberry ice cream,” he suggested instead, looking for a compromise.

“Yeah,” Raph agreed, his smile growing, “that sounds perfect.”

+++

END


End file.
